Percy Jackson and the Tournament of the Gods
by peterjohnson'snotmyname
Summary: Imagine: Percy goes to his second year of camp, as Ares decides it is time for revenge and challenges the young son of the seagod. Under the watchful sight of the Olympian gods, our favorite hero rises up to the challenge and participates in the most ancient and lethal tournament of all time: the tournament of the gods. Will Percy's feud with Ares and Clarisse be his downfall?
1. My Mom Says Goodbye with Blue Candy

**1\. My Mom Says Goodbye With Blue Candy**

Luckily this school year had been a quiet one. Well for my standards. The standards of a demigod. It had been a bit over a year since I discovered that my dad, who I had always believed had died on sea, was actually the god of the sea, Poseidon. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Being the son of the god of the sea is my life now. No joke. Am I happy with this? I'm not actually sure. I mean, being a half-blood means I have all these cool powers like commanding water and being able to breath under water. I also have this cool pen that actually turns into a sword when you click it and it also always returns to my pocket. Pretty awesome considering that I'm a 13-year-old teenage boy with ADD, which means I have the ability to loose every item I possess in a matter of minutes.

I always lose everything all the time which is something that drives my mom absolutely crazy. My mom is the best mom in the world. She and I live in a small apartment in New York. She works in a candy shop and she doesn't earn very much but we get by. She has been there for me all my life and totally tries to understand my half-blood life. Of course she still worries about me like all the time, but I mean, that is her job, right?

During the year she mostly worries about my school. Looking back, I have probably been expelled from every school I ever went to, which is probably some sort of record. It's not always my fault, I mean yes I am dyslectic, have ADD and a slight problem with authority but mostly strange things tend to happen to me. Things I can't control. For instance last year my math teacher, Mrs. Dodd's turned out to be a fury, you know, one of the 3 servants of Hades, god of the underworld. She had never really liked me but had I expected her to turn into a winged monster with razor sharp teeth and a really bad temper? No, not really. So she kind of attacked me and tried to kill me but luckily my Latin teacher Mr. Brunner saved my butt. He actually turned out to be a centaur called Chiron, the guy from all the hero stories, who also trained Hercules. He's real too. Just as real as you, and me, and the Olympian gods. Still following?

Anyways, this school year I tried to be a good kid. Making my homework, trying to stay out of trouble, actually passing my classes for once. And to me and my mom's surprise I did not get expelled even once. Okay, there was a this minor incident that involved a very, very big dog, and when I say big I really mean BIG dog. First I just thought it was a Yorky who liked me and followed me around. After a few days I could have sworn it was growing in size and after a week the cute Yorkshire Terrier that followed me around had grown to full calf-size. He had razor sharp teeth as long as my fingers, which he used occasionally to try and bite my arm off. After running like hell and doing some research on Google, I found out that I was probably being chased by Laelaps, a mythical dog that always catches his prey, which was of course just great.

Luckily I found a story about him chasing a fox that couldn't be caught, so I called up my best friend Grover, who is a Satyr. Satyr's are servants of the nature god Pan, top half human, bottom half goat, and I figured if anyone would know where to find a fox, it would be him. Luckily he didn't disappoint me and in no time I had a brown fox in my possession. I set it free a few meters from the Laelaps, I mean I did want to give it a head start, and it worked. The Laelaps followed his mythical instinct and chased after the fox. I haven't seen him since. I just hoped for the fox's sake that history would repeat itself and that it would never be caught.

This minor incident pretty much sums up my life right now. Yes I have cool powers. But yes I am also chased by monsters pretty much 24/7. Usually it's my uncle Hades who is trying to piss me off by sending some of his pets over to say hi. Needless to say he is not my favorite relative.

Now July had finally begun, which meant that school had ended and I was to go to Camp half-blood to see my friends and train to fight monsters all summer long. I loved camp, but I could not stand leaving my mom for a whole year, so I had decided to only be a summer camper, and to not stay the whole year around.

I walked home from school and entered our small apartment. Of course my mom was waiting for me in the living room. She hugged me tight like only she was allowed to, and we sat down in the living room. 'And Percy, how was your last day of school?' she asked me. 'Very, very emotional' I replied smirking. She obviously knew I was more than happy to switch those dusty classrooms for summer camp. 'Well your bags are packed and I brought you something extra from the shop today'. She smiled at me and threw me a bag. I smiled back, already knowing what would be in it. The bag contained candy, but only blue candy. It was something of an inside joke between us. Her ex-husband and my ex step loser, smelly Gabe, had always said that blue food did not exist. My mom did her best to prove him otherwise, even though he was not really around anymore, and we both knew for sure he wasn't coming back anytime soon. 'Thanks mom' I said and I stood up and hugged her again. I didn't want to admit it but I was really going to miss her. 'Percy, promise me you'll at least try to stay safe' she said while smiling through her tears. 'I'll try' I replied, but she and I both knew better. Being a demigod pretty much meant I was in danger all the time. She kissed me on my forehead. 'And if you want you can always call or come back, you know that right?'. 'Yeah mom thanks, I know'. I'm definitely not a cry-baby, but realizing I had to leave my mom, who literally could not cross the boundary of Camp half-blood because she was human, made me sad. 'I uhm, need to get my bags'.

I walked to my room, wiped my eyes dry with my sleeves and got my bags. I walked to the door while my mom waved me goodbye. I once more looked at the apartment that I had called home for the last year, and walked outside. I made a mental note not to forget to call my mom every other day. I walked around the corner, looking for my bus when I faintly heard my mom scream 'I love you Percy!' out of the window. It made me smile. I found my bus, line 91, got in and slowly watched how the skyscrapers of New York City were replaced by the familiar landscape of trees and hills, with a whole summer of camp still ahead of me.


	2. I Get Abducted to the Public Restrooms

**2 I Get Abducted to the Public Restrooms**

Of course my arrival at camp went very smoothly and without trouble. Not. I got off in the middle of nowhere, or at least that's what the humans think. I walked a bit into the dense woods until I found the familiar hill, better known as half-blood hill. I crossed the boundary, which protected all of us demigods from monsters, and officially entered camp territory. The story behind the boundary is as fascinating as it is terrifying. In short, a daughter of Zeus, Thalia, was a very brave young and doomed girl. The big three, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon had made a pact that none of them were to have any relationships with humans anymore, because their demigod children were just too powerful. Obviously Thalia's existence broke that pact. Chased by an army of monsters sent by a very angry Hades, Thalia sacrificed herself to save the lives of three other kids. Alone, she faced the army of monsters while the others ran to camp and safety. During her impossible battle, Zeus took pity on her and turned her into a tree. Her tree has formed a shield that has protected camp half-blood from monsters up until this very day. Fascinating? Yes. Terrifying, hell yes. Because my very existence meant that yet another brother had broken the pact, which pissed of Hades even more, which is of course not a good thing.

As I had crossed the boundary of Thalia's tree, I walked into the familiar woods and the scene of daily camp life. All the Greek style cabins were still there. Satyrs were walking the strawberry fields, making them grow while glancing sideways, to where the sons and daughters of Aphrodite were hanging around admiring themselves and taking selfies. Some kids of Apollo, Ares and Hermes were playing a deadly game of volleyball, while some other kids were just hanging about. I smiled as I walked on. I saw people climbing the lava wall and I saw others canoeing on the lake, while the nymphs in the water tried to flip them over. Even the sight of the smelly public restrooms made me grin. No matter how screwed up the place sometimes was, it felt like home.

I walked over to my cabin, the one I had all to myself because I was the only son of Poseidon. I opened the door and a gush of wind caught my hair. It smelled salty, like the sea, like the ocean. Like home. I put down my bags and looked around. Everything looked exactly the same as I had left it. Cleaner and tidier, but the same. There was a big aquarium in one corner, filled with exotic fish. It stood on a hard wooden floor against one of the dark blue walls of my cabin. In my room I had a desk and a few cupboards filled with books about navy and sea stuff. Walking across the room, turning the corner my bed stood, complete with aqua colored sheets and everything. All in all, the whole cabin made you feel like you were on a ship, but the main thing that caught your attention when you entered was the centerpiece of the room and one of my nicest possessions: a big, life-size bronze trident. I picked it up and walked over to the window, where I had a view over the lake. I hadn't realized it that much during the year, but I had really missed this place. Yeah, sometimes it was lonely, being the only son of the big three. It meant I had no cabin mates and that I sat alone during dinner, because all kids sat with their siblings, and mine were, well, pretty non-existent. Some people also still thought I was weird because I had these big powers and all, but most of them had accepted me now because last year I had kind of saved Olympus and the world by returning Zeus's lightning bolt, the most powerful weapon in the world which had been stolen. It's not like I'm worshipped for saving the world or something, I mean, being a hero among demigods is nothing special. But it meant that most people liked me, or at least respected me. I fit in, which was something that felt nice for a change.

I was still reminiscing about my adventure last summer when I heard the camp horn. Dinner was ready. I looked around the room once more, thought about how happy I was to be back and stepped out or my cabin. I started walking towards the farmhouse, which was the residence of Chiron, my centaur mentor and Dionysus, also called Mr. D. He was god of wine and was punished by his father Zeus to lead and protect the camp which was something he absolutely hated to do. He mostly spend his time playing pinochle and scaring the shit out of people, while wearing the most ridiculous Hawaiian shirts you have ever seen. He was also put on probation by Zeus, which meant that every time he conjured himself some wine, it turned into water. I guess I understood why he was so grumpy. Being the god of wine and not being able to drink it did suck very much.

Thinking about the fact that I had maybe even missed grumpy old Dionysus a little, I heard a movement behind me. I wanted to turn around but before I got the chance an electric shock hit my back and jolted through my body. I collapsed forward, being unable to move. 'Well well, look who's back at camp'. I recognized her voice immediately. 'I gotta say, we all dearly missed you, seaweed brain. Without you gone, there are just no sissy's left for us to mess with, you know'. She bent down and caressed my cheek, only to end her touch by slapping me across the face. 'But now that you're back, we finally have someone to play with again'. Suddenly I felt something hard hit my stomach and my body turned sideways. I was facing Clarisse and her entourage of ugly, misshapen siblings. All daughters of Ares, the god of war, and all ugly as hell. I didn't care much for Ares or his kids. He had sort of framed me last summer, and me, being the stupid and impulsive teenager that I am, had challenged him to a fight. Me. A 12-year-old teenage boy, fighting the god of war. Saying that that was not one of my best decisions in life was an understatement. Anyways, not short of a miracle I came out of the battle unharmed, but you can understand why the daughters of Ares would hate my guts. Being beaten by a snotty half-blood kid was a big humiliation for a god, especially for the god of war. Not that Clarisse was a friend of mine before I had started the little family feud with her dad. Clarisse had been mean to me from day one. She and her stupid band of morons that followed her around all day had made it their life goal to make my life at camp as miserable as possible. Which, at the moment, was working out pretty well.

I was on my side, facing her and her friends, still unable to move. Clarisse had an electric spear in her hand, a gift from her o-so-nice-and-honest daddy, which she had just obviously used to knock me down. Somehow I was still able to speak. 'Hey Clarisse, very classy fighting someone who can't move' I yelled. My bold comment was immediately answered with another kick in the guts. Clarisse grinned. 'You know I could take you on anytime with my hands tied behind my back. I just thought this would be more fun'. She showed me her most evil smile. 'Come on girls, let's show Mr. special here how much we have missed him'. On cue the girls started to punch and kick me and after a while they started to haul me over the ground. My face was turned towards the ground and I felt totally numb so I didn't notice where we were going until we got there. They had taken a detour, through the forest, avoiding the big house, all the way around camp. 'We're here, seaweed brain', Clarisse sneered. I was thrown into a corner and realized where we were. 'Shit' I cursed under my breath and Clarisse started laughing hysterically. 'Shit indeed seaweed brain, shit indeed' she said, which was ironic, looking at the fact that I was dropped just a meter away from the public restrooms.


	3. The God of War Signs my Death Certificat

Hello guys!

Firstly, I'd like to thank a reviewer for correcting I name that I totally misspelled.

Remember, comments and reviews are always welcome.

Hope you enjoy reading chapter 3. Let me know what you think

 **3 The God of War Signs My Death Certificate**

What happened next was really not one of my proudest moments. As Clarisse's friends hauled me into the boy's toilet, Clarisse kicked open one of the stalls, took ahold of my hair and came up way too close in my personal space. 'You like water, don't you, seaweed brain? Well time for you to take a swim then'. With one powerful swing she pushed me forward and literally tried to drown me in the toilet. Luckily for me, her first drowning-Percy-because-that-is-just-so-much-fun attempt failed. My instincts helped me out and I felt a familiar tug in my gut. As my face was supposed to hit the smelly toilet water, the water parted and my head hit, well, nothing, to the displeasure of a very mad Clarisse. 'Oh no, not this time' she shrieked and like a mad woman she started banging my head against the wall which made me dizzy as hell. And not the fun-I'm-on-a-rollercoaster kind of dizzy, but the crazy-girl-is-banging-my-head-against-a-concrete-wall kind of dizzy. Not very pleasant. As my mind was all over the place, Clarisse's second drowning attempt succeeded. My face hit the smelly, stinky water and I tried with all my might to get up. Unfortunately, my body was still paralyzed from the electric shock, so fighting back was not an option. The only thing I could do was try not to think about what usually landed in this toilet, except for the occasional head of a son of Poseidon of course. I also tried to be glad that I had the ability to breath under water. At least I didn't inhale the nasty toilet water.

I guess after some time drowning someone in a toilet loses its magic, and Clarisse hauled me up and threw me out of the stall. As I was gagging and trying my best not to vomit I heard something break and then I was showered by toilet water. Honestly I don't think it was just toilet water because the water that gathered itself on the ground was a shady yellow, but I just forced myself to think it was just water. Nothing else. Clarisse and her gang stood there for a minute, laughing, and then left me to soak in the toilet water.

After what seemed like forever and what was probably just a few minutes, I was able to move my left leg. I concentrated on trying to move my other limbs, instead of concentrating on the horrible, horrible smell that came up my nose. After a few more minutes I finally managed to stand up. I was surprised I guess. Normally when I dive into a pool or something I don't get wet if I don't want to. But my head, my body and especially my ego were pretty banged up, and I had only managed to keep my right leg and arm dry. The rest of me was absolutely and completely soaked in toilet water. Great, I thought, just great. As I started to walk out of the boy's public restrooms I was still barely able to stand up. All I wanted to do now was get to my cabin and sit in the shower for a few hours while trying to forget this had ever happened. Smart person that I am, I had totally forgotten that it was dinner time, and I walked straight past the eating tables, and a soaked banged up son of Poseidon does not really go unnoticed. 'Hey looks like Poseidon Junior had a fight with the toilet!' Clarisse yelled. A huge wave of laughter followed from the Ares table while all the other campers stopped with eating to gawk at me. I found my cheeks turn red and I decided to just walk up to my table and sit down. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. This was NOT happening. Camp was my home. I fit in here. It was only the first day and I was already the laughing stock of camp, plus Clarisse would never let me forget this. Ever. Mr. D, who was of course also attending dinner, made it even worse. 'Peter Johnson, you are spoiling my appetite. Go and put on something that doesn't smell like, well, you, and then come back to eat'. I shot him my most angry look, thinking that I had definitely not missed him this year, and started to get up. 'Percy what have you gotten yourself into this time' a familiar voice sighted behind me. I turned around and saw Annabeth, one of my two best friends at camp standing behind me looking worried. Being a daughter of Athena, Annabeth was as wise as she was beautiful. With startling grey eyes, California blonde hair, an athletic build and more knowledge than most dictionaries, she was pretty impressive and sometimes quite intimidating to be around. Not that I would ever mention that to her of course.

As Annabeth launched into a series of questions about what I could possibly have done to get into trouble, Grover, my other best friend walked up to me. 'Perce what in the name of Pan have you been doing? You smell worse than my great uncle Andy's hooves!' He obviously went in for a hug but, wisely, changed his mind at the last moment and gave me a clap on my shoulder instead. His horns had grown since I last saw him and he seemed to be a little taller, but all in all he still looked the same as I had left him last summer. Both of my friends looked at me with worried eyes, but kept a good distance between us, which I understood considering how I was smelling at the moment. Annabeth took a deep breath. "Percy, as much as Grover and I would like to know what has happened, you should go shower, you look terrible and you smell even worse'. Her facial expression made me smile. "As much as I hate to tell her she's right, you should seriously hit the showers Perce. You could use some one on one time with a soap bar' Grover said, which was funny because Grover's version of one on one time with a soap bar meant eating the soap bar. 'After the shower you can tell us what happened' Annabeth added, as she forced a smile. As I turned around to make my way to my cabin and wash off the smell but mostly the humiliation of what had happened, I almost bumped into Chiron. Almost bumping into Chiron is very awkward looking at the fact that it meant I was bumping into a horse's trunk. He looked down at me. 'Well Percy, I don't really know what happened to you but Annabeth is right, as usual. You, my friend, are in desperate need of a shower'. Chiron shot my table a look and turned to Grover. 'Grover, save Percy some food for when he gets back, please'. It looked as if he was going to say something else, but at that moment the Stoll brothers got into a fight about something. Chiron sighted. 'It seems like I'm needed elsewhere. I'll talk to you later Percy'. He nodded to Annabeth and Grover and galloped away towards the commotion. 'Don't worry Perce, I'll save you some burritos!' Grover yelled, as he stormed off to the tables filled with food. 'I'll be showering' I said aimlessly and waved goodbye to Annabeth, who absent mindedly waved back, probably still trying to figure why I was smelling like a sewer. And she wasn't the only one fascinated. As I walked back to my cabin, I felt the eyes of the other campers following me, already gossiping about what could possibly have happened to me. All in all an awesome first day at camp.

After the longest shower of my life I finally gathered enough courage to go back to the camp scene. During my shower the sky had become dark and from afar I could already see the roaring pit fire that was set in front of the farmhouse. I tried to ignore all the obvious glances people shot me as I walked past the fire pit and sat down beside Annabeth who was talking to Travis Stoll about the fight. Out of nowhere Grover appeared, with a plate filled with burritos. 'Grover my man, I asked you to save me some dinner for tonight, not for the whole week' I joked as Grover crashed down next to me. 'No problem Perce, I'm a good friend, I'll help you eat' Grover said, as he took the top burrito and stuffed in into his mouth. 'Grover, that is just eww' Annabeth said as she rolled her eyes and turned to me. 'He also saved you a can of coke, but he already ate it'. Grover blushed. 'Yeah sorry about that Percy, I mean, it was just staring at me and begging me to eat it'. I laughed. 'It's alright Grover, I don't mind, really'. Maybe normal people would be weirded out by a best friend actually eating cans, but Grover was a satyr and if there was one thing he absolutely loved to eat it was Mexican food, and soda cans. Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool.

I threw a burrito into the fire as an offering for the gods, which is something we all do before we eat our dinner, and dived into my plate of burritos. Some of my other friends, kids from the Apollo cabin like Michael Yes and some sibling from Annabeth came up to me to ask what had happened today. To my dislike I could not come up with an excuse so I had to tell everyone how I got my ass kicked by Clarisse and her siblings. To my surprise, nobody actually laughed and most of them actually defended me. I finally started to feel a little better when, without a warning, the roaring flame of the campfire, died.

There was a slight wave of panic and suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the front of the farmhouse. Torches flicked on all around it, which made the house stand out in the shady dark. A big, dark figure came out of the house and for a moment, my heart actually stopped. I heard Annabeth curse under her breath and Grover let out a small 'Yelp' while he stressfully started chewing his t-shirt. In front of us stood a big, muscular and familiar looking guy. He had huge, tattooed arms and wore some shady, ripped shirt. He was wearing camouflage pants, combat boots and some way too old leather jacket. He pretty much looked like a Hell's angel on steroids, only 1000 times as scary. His face was framed with multiple scars and he had this big wild beard. His eyes seemed to sparkle with a wildly burning fire. I felt Annabeth's hand on my shoulder and realized I had been holding my breath this whole time. I exhaled while Annabeth and I exchanged glances. We both knew the guy up there, and whatever his reason was for visiting our camp, it wasn't good.

The man looked around the crowd, smiling. Whenever he made eye contact with a camper, they immediately cast their eyes to the ground. The man radiated a raw kind of power, and obviously enjoyed using it to intimidate others. When he spoke, his voice boomed like thunder. 'Hello puny campers, let me introduce myself. I am Ares, god of war'. Ares looked around the crown again, to let the words sink in. Some people looked shocked and some people looked actually scared. Then cheers erupted from behind me. Ares smiled. 'While some of you may not know me, and some of you do, I am here on strict hero businesses'. He took a step forward and spread his big hulk-like arms. 'We gods need heroes and there is no greater way to find a hero, than sending them on a quest. That is why, every 20 years, we gods test the ones who want to be tested'. He smiled showing off one of his golden teeth. 'The brave will face four dangerous, god-chosen challenges. The winner will triumph, and the losers, well'. Ares walked towards the group of campers and caught my eye. 'The losers might die. Or just get really really hurt. It all depends on your luck'. He smiled, as if the thought of mangled demigods was something nice, like winning the lottery or something. With a poof a roll or parchment appeared in his hands. 'Anyone who would like to participate may participate. The competition will be fair and no gods will interfere, but beware. The last 100 years, only the best demigods have won. Only my kids have won'. Ares was laughing hysterically now, while he started walking up and down the row of kids. 'So if you're afraid to die or just plain weak' he looked at me again, 'you simply don't enroll and watch the brave ones fight it out. So, who's in?' Of course Clarisse was the first to step up and looked moronically proud while ensuring her daddy that she was absolutely going to win. How touching. Some other Ares kids signed up and I watched Ares watching me. He was mocking me. I could just hear him in my head, calling me a coward for not signing up. As I started to move forward Annabeth held me back. 'Don't Percy. He's just messing with your head' she whispered. 'What' I said, and looked at her. 'You expect me to let Clarisse win? After what she did to me today?' I tried to shake her off but she wouldn't let go. 'Percy, this tournament is really dangerous, I've read about it and' 'Of course you have' I snapped back, still struggling to shake her off. But Annabeth wouldn't let go of my arm and forced me to look at her. 'Percy, the point is people have died in this tournament. Died, as in dead. You can't just'. I cut her off. 'No Annabeth, that's the point, I can'. Without giving myself time to chicken out, I finally shook myself loose. 'Oh, and by the way, I might not be smart like you, but I know what dead means, thank you very much' I yelled at her, while walking away towards my cousin and archenemy.

Ares looked at me and smiled. 'So brave nephew, here again to make stupid decisions?' he said sarcastically. Ares was openly mocking me, definitely referring to our last encounter and fight. 'Well my last stupid decision turned out to be pretty awesome. I got to kick my cousin's sorry ass' I replied. I didn't know why I said it, but something in this guy just made me really angry. Ares's smile faded. 'You don't know who you're messing with boy' he whispered. His eyes started burning very bright, and I was afraid he might change to his true god form and burn me up, but he seemed to realize that killing the son of Poseidon in front of a demigod crowd was not a very smart move. He smiled again and in a less threating voice went on. 'Are you sure you're up for the challenge? Last time you were up against my daughters things didn't work out very well'. I heard Clarisse behind me laughing hysterically. Obviously Ares had watched my bathroom pounding . Would definitely be his form of Friday night entertainment. Don't you just love my family? 'Well, I guess if no one is cowardly enough to paralyze me from behind, I'll beat them with two hands tied behind my back'. I replied. Ares's smile disappeared and his eyes shot fire again. 'Okay, knucklehead, it's you're funeral'. As I walked back, Ares wrote my name down on the list of contenders, while his wordskept repeating in my head. _It's your funeral._


	4. I Get Attacked by an Enchilada and a Can

**4 I Get Attacked by an Enchilada and a Can of Coke**

That night I went to bed with a really, really bad feeling. After Ares had left again, Chiron casually broke us the news that the tournament was starting the next day. That's right. The super-dangerous, life-threatening, god-chosen tournament was starting the very next day. Awesome. So while Annabeth was summing up a list of all the kids that had actually died in the tournament, which of course made me feel a whole lot better, we walked to my cabin and I said goodbye to my friends. As I walked in I undressed and got into my bed. Before I went to sleep I actually sort of 'prayed' to my father, which of course sounds totally weird but it's pretty much what I do when I don't really know what to do. Sometimes he even talks back. Not really out loud of course, but in my head, like he's telling me what to do. Which, now I think about it, is really weird too. Anyways, just when I had decided my dad was probably too occupied with saving whales or something to be able to talk to me, his voice filled my mind.

 _Never choose easy ._ Of course I was super stoked that my dad reacted but if you know me, you know that cryptic riddles are not really my strong point. Well honestly, riddles are not really my strong point. Or reading. Anything that actually involves clear and logic thinking is not really my thing. I turned and twisted in my bed, while trying to figure out what in god's name never choose easy could mean. Hours passed, and finally I decided to let it go. I needed my sleep if I was to survive tomorrow. As my mind filled itself with horror challenges,as for instance, one in which the gods would make me read and translate some horrible lit-class book or the bible, I slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping that I would somehow make it out alive tomorrow.

The next morning went by pretty fast. I got up, ate my breakfast and hit the sword fighting arena. Just as I was pretending one of the fighting dummies was Clarisse and I was going to chop off her head, Annabeth entered the arena. 'Here to tell me other very interesting and terrifying facts about the tournament?' I said, while actually chopping the Clarisse-dummy's head off. 'Because I'm really not interested'. I kicked away the dummy head and looked at Annabeth. 'No Percy, I just…..' Annabeth didn't finish her sentence, which was very unlike her. It normally took an army of hellhounds or something to shut that girl up, and even then it only lasted for like five minutes. 'Here' she said, and she threw me something. I caught it and examined it. 'Body armor' I said surprisingly. 'Wow he can even identify objects now' she replied sarcastically. I grinned and she punched me in the arm. 'But seriously, thanks Annabeth, smart thinking, I'm definitely going to need that today' I said. 'Well, being the daughter of Athena, that's kind of my job isn't it?' she replied. Annabeth winked at me, and before she could actually see me blush I quickly bent over my armor and started untying the back so I could put it on.

While I was still busy with studying my armor, Grover entered the Arena. 'Percy, Annabeth told me to get you something to eat, here'. Grover threw me something. Knowing Grover and his throwing skills, or better to say, lack of throwing skills I actually expected him to miss me and hit the dummy standing three feet away from me, but somehow it didn't. Grover's food collided mid-air with my hair, where it stuck like it was glued to my head. I shot Grover a look. 'Sorry, enchiladas are a bit sticky with the cheese and everything. But I got you something less sticky too. Think fast Perce!' Totally oblivious to the fact that throwing a can to someone who is trying to put on body armor and already has a enchilada hanging in his hair is not a very intelligent thing to do, Grover threw a can of soda at my head. Definitely being on a lucky strike, the object hit home again, this time colliding with my face. Let's just say that putting on brand-new body armor is hard enough without getting hit by flying cans of coke.

As I was hit in the face, I lost my balance and tumbled down looking like a handicapped mummy, trapped in my own body armor.'Thanks Grover' I mumbled as he and Annabeth hauled me up and tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh. As they both helped me get into my armor we heard the camp horn. 'It's time' I said, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. 'No worries Percy, you'll do great, I just know it.' Annabeth said unconvincingly. 'Yeah I'm sure I'll be fine. Let's just go get it over with.' I replied. I headed towards the door. 'Euh Percy' Grover said looking puzzled. 'What' I looked back at him. 'You still have some other object you want to throw at my head?' I asked. 'Well, what I think Grover is trying to say' Annabeth said 'Is that it is probably a good idea to get that enchilada out of your hair _before_ the tournament starts.'

Once I was seperated from the enchilada, we walked to the farmhouse in silence. As we got there I waved my friends goodbye. 'Good luck Perce' Grover said while hugging me. As he stepped back, Annabeth also hugged me, which was really nice but definitely a surprise. She isn't much of a hugger. 'Don't get yourself killed, seaweed brain' she said. 'I wouldn't dare' I replied as she let me go. As my friends went to stand with the rest of the crowd I took a deep breath and stepped in line with the other contenders. I noticed that I was the only not Ares kid in line, which made me even more nervous. A godly tournament is difficult enough to survive without all other participant hating your guts. Out of nowhere, Mr. D appeared and looked around, obviously bored. 'As all of you know, your silly little tournament is about to start'. He sighted. 'Honestly, I couldn't care less about it, but the gods wanted me to tell you about how important this is to them and blablabla'. Thunder shook in the sky and Mr. D looked up. 'Zeus wants me to be more, how shall I put this, _positive_ about my situation here. So let's look at this tournament from a positive point of view.' He looked at some of the contenders. 'Maybe some of you will be so badly wounded I get to kill you off.' Mr. D smiled. His smile stood in dark contrast with the very happy and sunny orange striped Hawaiian shirt he was wearing today. Satisfied with his amazing speech, Mr. D conjured a chair made out of grapevines and sat down. He conjured a crystal cup and filled it with a dark red liquid that must have been wine, because it immediately changed into water. Looking somewhat disappointed and while muttering something about his father never letting him have any fun, he looked around and finally raised his cup. 'Let the tournament begin'.


	5. I become a Greek architect

**5 I Become a Greek Architect**

As Mr. D had given the start of the tournament I had expected the ground to split open and swallow us as the darkest and most dangerous monsters of Hades would wait at the bottom to devour us all. But it didn't. I also half expected the Ares cabin to assemble and attack me from behind or drown me in another public restroom. But they didn't. The beginning of the tournament actually went pretty smooth. As nothing happened, lightning struck down several times in the woods. I guess that was our cue, so all walked forward into the woods until we came to that clearing. There, in the sand was a big message. And when I say big message I mean ginormous gigantic like-it-was-written-by-Godzilla-himself message that even the most dyslectic person on the planet, which is probably me, could read. It said:

 _Those who are brave enough will start challenge one_

 _Once started it is impossible to be left undone_

 _Make my temple arise from the ground_

 _Those unholy will be struck back down_

So if I got this right, challenge one was building a temple for a god. Okay to be honest I had expected something more challenging. Or dangerous. Or terrifying. Not that I was complaining or anything. At the base of the gigantic riddle 15 big axes lay on the ground. As I picked up the axe that actually had my name on it, which was pretty cool, Clarisse looked at me. 'Good luck knucklehead. You're going to need it'. With those words Clarisse started attacking the nearest tree like she was Atilla the Hun or something. Not a very pretty sight. As all the other Ares kids also started abusing trees, I chose a small pine tree on my right. As I went in for my first chuck, I realized how heavy my axe actually was. With all my power I lifted it above my head and threw it against the tree, but whatever I tried, it was pretty useless. I was pretty useless. Unlike the Ares kids, who I imagined lived in Alaska shacks eating raw fish for breakfast and having professional wrestlers as mothers, growing up in New York didn't really help if you wanted to be a temple making woody wood chucker. As the others chucked through their trees like they were made of butter, I had hardly made a dent in mine. I stopped for a second to catch my breath when on my left, I saw one of Clarisse's brothers, Peter finish his temple. Yes it was ugly, just like him, and yes it barely stood u right, but it was a temple. He walked around it once to make sure it didn't fall over and then he started to wave his arms. 'I'm done! I'm done! Hellooo I'm dooone!' Next to the fact that the guy looked even more stupid than usual, which I thought to be impossible, something terrible happened.

Out of nowhere dark clouds gathered and in a flash of light and thunder, Clarisse's brother was struck down by lightning. Everyone stopped chucking and looked. Peter wasn't moving. And neither were we. No one moved. No one said a word. I guess we all realized what the last line of the riddle had meant. If your temple wasn't 'holy' enough, like Peter's had been, you got struck down. Literally. By Zeus's lightning bolt. The most powerful weapon in the world. And to make it even worse, the second line of the riddle meant that we couldn't quit building the temple either. It was building a great temple and move on to challenge two, or get struck down by Zeus. As Clarisse took a step towards Peter's lifeless body, the sky rumbled. Clarisse looked up, and carefully took a step back again. Trying to ignore Peter's lifeless body, we all continued like madmen to assault the trees.

As the others had already started to assemble their pieces of wood, my stack was still only as high as a medium-sized dwarf. If I kept chucking the wood at this rate, I would be here for another week. I threw away my axe and sat down against the tree trunk I has just mangled. I closed my eyes. There must be another way. 'Look guys, our little crybaby has already given up!' I tried to ignore Clarisse and think, which was not my strongest asset. _Never choose easy_. The sentence repeated itself in my head over and over. Suddenly I got it. I threw Clarisse my axe. 'Here you can have it, I don't need it anymore.' With a confused look on her face Clarisse watched as I spread out my arms. I felt a familiar tug in my gut and after half a minute or so a big, vast, cloud of water came hovering my way. 'You can't make a temple out of water, knucklehead' Clarisse yelled. 'Zeus wants a _temple,_ not a puddle of mud.' 'For the first time you're actually right Clarisse' I replied. 'You can't make a temple out of water. But you can make a temple out of ice'. I had gathered the water in a squared shape and bowed my hands down. I still don't know how I managed to do it, but the water froze and in front of me stood a big transparent block of solid ice. The look on Clarisse's face was priceless. Ignoring all the other contenders, who were gawking at me like I was a snowman in July, I started to work. Last year my mom had had this obsession with sculptures and she used to watch hours and hours of some old boring guy hacking away making weird stuff out of rock. So I tried to do the same, in my own demigod way of course.

I aimed my hands and started moving them along the edges of the block. Part of the ice moved and I was actually able to shape the ice the way I wanted. I started to run circles around the ices, until I had shaped four big Greek-style pillars. I must say I have never been so happy to have Annabeth be so obsessed about architecture. She was always bothering me with pictures of important buildings and stuff. Normally this annoyed me but now it really helped. I knew exactly what to look for in shaping this temple. After a while a real column started to form and suddenly I got this brilliant idea. I started forming the ice up and down and up and down until I got this tree like shape. At the top of the temple I wrote the name _Thalia_ in Greek and stepped back. My temple actually looked really cool. And I just knew Zeus would appreciate me honoring his daughter. Somehow I had always felt a weird connection to her. She was the only other alive big three kid. Okay, she was a tree so we didn't exactly talk or anything, but I still appreciated her keeping the camp safe. Unlike Peter I didn't frantically start yapping that I was done like some crazy person but I just looked up at the sky and said. 'I think I'm done now'. Nothing happened, and then again, out of nowhere, lightning struck.


	6. I Climb the Wall of Doom

**6 I Climb the Wall of Doom**

The lightning struck only a few inches away from my face. When I opened my eyes all that was left was a burned patch of grass, and a note. All eyes on me again, I bent forward and picked up the note. With difficulty I read:

 _Succeeding challenge one was only the start,_

 _Now you're route with the others will part_

 _Follow the forest path and ignore the others call,_

 _That'll lead you to the challenge of the unclimbable wall_

While the last two lines of the riddle kind of freaked me out I didn't waste any time and ran to the path on my right that lead into the forest. Of course I couldn't resist looking back to wink at Clarisse. Again. Priceless.

I started jogging along the forest part, while looking at the note in my hand. I just needed to follow the path and that would bring me to my next challenge. After running for some time I heard some noises coming out of the forest and suddenly a big shrieking sound of an animal in pain filled the air. My first reaction was to go and help, I mean, if an animal was making that kind of noise it was in some serious pain, but as I wandered of the path I froze in my steps. I was still clutching the note in my hands and suddenly the sentence _ignore the others call_ jumped out at me. There was an animal calling for my help. The only question was, was it really just an animal. As I backed away from the sound towards the path again, the sound grew louder and louder until the wailing turned into a wild roar that pierced through my brain. Before whatever was making that noise could get to me, I started running and got the hell out of there.

After having escaped the thing of which I really did not want to know what it was, I jogged steadily for about two hours. I was on edge, still half-expecting some creepy creature or Clarisse to jump out of the bushes and attack me Atilla-the-Hun style, but nothing happened. After another hour of walking and after having to fight my way through some really pain in the ass thorn bushes, I finally reached challenge two, the challenge of the unclimbable wall.

I had never been a bad climber. I mean I was quick, pretty alethic, and while climbing the lava wall at camp I had always made it out alive with only a few scratches here and there. Yeah Grover always beat me, but hey, the guys half mountain goat so that doesn't really count.

However what I saw here made my heartbeat speed up.

A wall at least three times as high as the wall on camp stood before me. Lava streamed down the sides like water and big rocks casually fell down now and again. Real rocks. The I'm-going-to-squash-you-like-a-fly kind of rocks. Examining the rock wall itself more closely I noticed there weren't a lot of ridges to stand on or hold on to. I even thought I caught a glimpse of a snake tail or something along one of the little cave-like holes in the wall. This was the kind of challenge I had expected, and dreaded. But what had to be done had to be done.

Taking a deep breath, I started to climb the wall very carefully. One step at a time. And it really wasn't that bad. Not counting that one time that a rock the size of Mount Everest almost squashed me. Or that a short time after that, I burned my hand when I accidentally grabbed a ridge that was filled with hot steaming lava. Or when I almost fell because I'm a moron and thought there was a ridge to hold on to, when in reality there really wasn't. Okay, maybe it wasn't going so great after all, but hey I was still alive, which meant one point for Percy and zero points for the big fat wall.

As I reached halfway, I heard some noises below me and looked down to see what was happening, which is not a very good idea considering I didn't enjoy heights and I was on a huge wall. As I became nauseated noticing the space between me and the forest floor, I saw something else. Clarisse had begun climbing the wall. She was advancing fast, dodging lava and rocks like it was something she did every day. Which wouldn't really surprise me but still, the girl had some serious climbing skills. As she quickly closed the space between me and her, I saw one of her sisters get into huge trouble. The girl had somehow gotten herself stuck between a stream of lava and an avalanche of falling rocks. Bad enough as that was, it looked like some snake like thing had wrapped itself around her ankle, and tried to pull her loose from the wall. She shrieked and now Clarisse looked down too. For one short moment I actually thought she was going to help. But she looked up again and started climbing while her sister down below, started crying for help.

I knew the girl didn't deserve my help. I mean she was a daughter of Ares and my competition and really there was no reason at all for me to help her. But as I saw her struggling to keep on the wall my mind screamed at me to help her. So while Clarisse caught up with me and climbed on to the top, I carefully and quickly started to descend the rock wall, hoping I would be fast enough to help the girl.

Luckily I got there in time. As the girl let go of the wall to start her deadly fall to the ground, I caught her hand and swung her to the side. After we both almost got squashed by another ginormous rock I was able to set her onto a ridge safely. 'Are you okay?' I asked. 'Fine, I didn't need your help anyways' she snapped back. 'You're kidding, right' I replied as she ignored me and started climbing again. 'I just saved your life!' I yelled at her. She looked down at me, and did something I didn't expect: she gave me the finger. I mean, I wasn't expecting a hug or a parade or anything but a simple, thank you Percy for saving my life while also risking yours in the process would have been appreciated. However, as we were sort of in the middle of climbing the wall of doom we didn't actually have time to talk about why her wrestler mother never taught her manners, and in silence we climbed on. Soon our ways split and my anger made for good motivation to get to the top ahead of her. When I was almost there I looked back and watched her climb. The girl was a really bad climber, and when I say really bad I mean really bad, as in my great-grandmother would have been a better climber than her kind of bad. She was still only half-way to the top and got herself stuck in a place with no ridges to advance on. But I wasn't helping her this time, I mean I had ADD but I wasn't stupid. I turned my attention to climbing the wall again. When I reached the top fairly unscathed and feeling pretty good about myself, I realized there was no one in sight. Clarisse was long gone.


	7. All the Gods Send Me Presents

Hey guys! Thanks for reading and also for the reviews! Especially the ones about me explaining to much and

writing shorter paragraphs were really helpful :) (and also the one about me messing up Ares being Percy's uncle. Olympian families are complicated)

Hope you like chapter 7, feel free to let me know what you thought of it!

 **7 All the Gods Send Me Presents**

After walking and jogging on and off for a few more hours I reached a long dirt road. As my feet had begun to tire I started walking until I stumbled upon my next challenge.

In front of me lay a very long and outstretched field of grass. This time there was no big message written on the ground but instead, the field was home to fifteen very long rectangular tables. The tables seemed to be covered with boxes. As I walked on to one of the tables, my eye caught the second table to the right that had the name Perseus on it.

As I approached my table I closely started examining the boxes that were on it. Since the table had my full and undivided attention, I hadn't really noticed that a person was approaching me until he was standing right in front of me.

Saying that I freaked out when I saw him was and understatement. And a big one at that.

The guy standing in front of me, if he/it actually could be called a guy, was unusually tall and muscular but that wasn't what freaked me out about him. What did, was that on top of his broad and muscular shoulders he sported not one, but two heads, which was pretty weird, even for demigod standards.

'Hello Perseus Jackson, I am Janus, god of doorways, beginnings, endings and choices. It is nice to finally meet you.' 'Euh, Hi' was my instant and highly intelligent reply. I mean, cut me some slack. I don't really walk into two headed gods on a daily basis. 'I mean, it is nice to meet you too' I finally managed to stutter. Janus laughed at me and winked, which was again, pretty weird looking at the fact that the guy had four eyes.

'You need not fear me, son of Poseidon. I am here to help you.' I smiled back at him and Janus went on. 'In front of you there are thirteen boxes. Each box contains one gift. A gift a god sent you.' Now I indeed noticed that all boxes were slightly different. The first one for instance showed little flickering lightning bolts when caught in the light.

'The first box is from Zeus' I said. 'Smart kid' the other head of Janus replied, while the other head went back to the explanation. 'Every box belongs to one god. It is up to you to choose and open two boxes. The gifts you find inside will be yours to use in your next challenge.'

Janus started walking along the line of boxes, touching each and every one with the tip of his fingers which, to my relief, were present on his hands in normal numbers. 'But beware Perseus Jackson. Not every god wishes you well on your quest. Gifts may turn out to be different than you expected. Choose wisely. Goodbye and good luck.'

With those words Janus started walking away from me. The last thing I heard was his heads starting a discussion about whether it would be cooler if they would finishing each other's sentences when explaining this challenge, which made me feel glad I only had one head. With a poof Janus was gone, and I was alone again.

With thirteen boxes at my disposal I had to make the right choice. First I started identifying every box, making sure I knew which gift was sent by which god.

The first one was from Zeus. The box next to Zeus's was all black. Obviously a box from Hades, god of the underworld and an uncle that wished me dead and preferred it happened in a nasty and painful way. The third box showed familiar little shimmering fish and I smiled. Obviously that box belonged to my dad, Poseidon.

The fourth box was made out of shimmering pure gold, which meant the box came from Apollo. Next to it stood a box of pure silver, which I guessed could only belong to Apollo's twin sister, Artemis. The next box was covered in little flying shoes which obviously meant it belonged to Hermes, god of transport. The box next to that of Hermes was covered in little grapevines that grew all around it. Obviously a present from Mr. D. I could only image what his idea of a helpful present would be.

Five boxes were left now, and the next in line I could not identify. It was a normal grey box with nothing special on it. As I decided I would leave that one for later, I recognized a little box fully covered with little hearts next to another box that was covered in equally cute little daggers that pierced through a person that looked suspiciously a lot like me. A box from Aphrodite and a painfully unsubtle one from Ares. The box next to it closely resembled a cereal box, which meant it must have been a present from Demeter.

The single last box was covered in little shivering hammer's, which of course meant it came from Hephaestus. The last box didn't look special from the outside, but when I examined it closely I actually heard wedding music play. A box from Hera, goddess of marriage. Counting all the gods I had identified, while silently thanking Annabeth for making me memorize all of them and their symbols, I concluded that the grey box belonged to Athena.

Choosing wasn't going to be that hard. I immediately disregarded the boxes from Hades and Ares. I could only imagine what my favorite uncle and cousin would have in store for me. After that I also decided that Zeus's and Aphrodite's box would be left untouched. To Zeus I was the living proof that his brother Poseidon had broken their agreement, which meant he wasn't exactly my biggest fan. Also, having read some stories about Aphrodite, which were forced upon me by Annabeth of course, I knew she always tried to help people with stuff like love potions, and I couldn't really see what good that would do me right now.

Though Apollo's box looked really tempting and so did his sister's I decided to choose neither. Somehow choosing them didn't feel right. This left the boxes from Demeter, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Hera and my dad. I decided to leave Hera's box for what it was, just because of the fact she was Zeus's wife. You never know how killing a nephew might have come up at Friday night dinner.

In all honesty I didn't really know that much about Demeter, so I also decided to leave that box alone. The last decision was the hardest but as I walked past the boxes somehow Athena's box jumped out at me.

It was a gamble because she and my father had been in a fight for, like, multiple decades now, but when I looked at the grey box I didn't see a family feud. I saw Annabeth's laughing face, telling me that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is the only book I have ever voluntarily read, didn't qualify as literature.

As I had just decided the boxes of Athena and my dad were going to be my gifts for today, a small, green box I had overlooked, caught my eye. When I looked at this box I didn't see a box but Grover's goofy face, while devouring an enchilada that left a trace of molten cheese all over his face. As I started to laugh the sentence _Never choose easy_ came to mind and suddenly I was sure.

As illogical as it sounded, I was not going to choose my dad's box but Athena's box and the box I identified as the box of Pan. My dad would understand and well, logic has never been my strongest point anyway.

First I touched the simple grey box that was the gift of Athena. As the box automatically opened I jumped back, just to be sure, but nothing happened. I carefully took a step forward and looked into the box. What I saw in there made me smile. As I prayed a silent thank you to Athena, I grabbed the circle that was in the box and thumped it. Immediately a big, steel grip formed around my arm and I was holding a big round combat shield. Really, really cool. As I thumped the shield again it went back to its small circular shape and I put it in my pocket next to Riptide. Somehow I felt I was going to need those later.

I walked over to the small, green Pan box, and as it opened I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Inside this box lay an enchilada and a can of coke. You could say a lot about Pan, that, for instance, he was unfindable or boring, but the god really did have a sense of humor. As I grabbed my enchilada, which was still nice and hot, and the not-thrown-at-my-head can of coke, I walked on with a good feeling, ready to face my last challenge.


	8. Clarisse is Nice to Me

Well guys, this is the last chapter of my first ever fan ficiton.

Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

 **8 Clarisse is Nice to Me**

Walking on feeling more confident than ever I started eating my enchilada because I was beginning to feel pretty hungry. But as I tasted my first mouthful I was thrown off guard. The enchilada really didn't taste like an enchilada. It tasted like my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies. I smiled. Having a normal enchilada while I was hungry was already great, but having ambrosia just before my last challenge made me feel like there was no one I couldn't beat. And boy was I wrong.

I had only walked for about five minutes when I stumbled upon another big, and hopefully last big challenge message:

 _Surviving three tasks to end_

 _The fourth challenge takes its stand_

 _Beat the beasts together or alone_

 _The winner will be awarded crown_

I followed the path which bent to the right and when I reached the corner my next challenge arose before me. A big, round and ancient looking amphitheater stood in front of me, and I knew what it meant. I had seen _Gladiato_ r. Amphitheaters were a form entertainment. The fighting to the death kind.

As I approached the big arena I heard screaming and clapping and a terrible roar followed by a scream. With my renewed strength from the ambrosia I started running towards the amphitheater, and probably my death.

As I arrived at the amphitheater I took in the scene. Clarisse was fighting in the middle of the arena with a big and very disturbing creature. Unlike Janus this creature didn't have two heads but where its legs should be was a big, long and very fat snake tail. Clarisse was trying her best to defend herself against the snake like creature but she was struggling. Then I noticed the audience on the bleachers cheering Clarisse on. I recognized all the people from camp sitting there screaming their heads off. There was, however, one part of the bleachers that was completely empty. There, on a big, Greek-style pillar lay a shimmering golden crown. It was beautiful and while I stood there mesmerized by its beauty, something attacked me from behind.

Something knocked me down and I hit the dirt of the amphitheater with a big smash. Luckily I'm a demigod and while my adrenaline started pumping I rolled over just as a really big claw missed me by an inch. I got up, uncapped Riptide and stood eye to eye with a hellhound.

Let me tell you something. Hellhounds are not really hounds. They're bigger, scarier, meaner and way more dangerous. It made the Laelaps of last summer look like a puppy. I took the Athena shield out of my pocket and thumped it. Now I was armed, protected and more than ready to take on this oversized dog. As the hellhound leaped, bearing his white long and razor-sharp teeth, I ducked, turned around again and let my battle instinct take over.

Again, the hellhound pounded and this time I didn't duck but threw my shield at him. I hit him right in the face but the hellhound wasn't knocked out or anything. I guess a bronze shield doesn't really have much effect on a 500 pound heavy dog. The only effect of the throw was probably that I had pissed the hellhound off even more.

Not going to be leaped on for the fourth time, I took the initiative and ran up to the hound. As I dodged his big massive claws I used Riptide and hacked one of them off. The hound started wailing like a little puppy and while I almost started feeling sorry for him he bared his teeth again, and attacked me. With only three paws he was a lot slower and as he jumped I again ducked but this time rolled under him in one swift motion and jammed my sword into his ribcage. In a matter of seconds I was covered in ash, as the hellhound had dissolved above me. One monster down, more to go.

Crowd cheering and still without a scratch I turned to look at Clarisse and the snake monster, still fighting each other. Clarisse was obviously losing. The snake woman seemed to have enough strength to go on fighting for weeks, while Clarisse, battered and bruised, was losing speed every time she dodged or parried an attack of the snake creature. Then it happened. Clarisse was too slow and the snake lady took her chance. With one of her two swords she knocked Clarisse's sword out of her hands. Fear in her eyes and unarmed, Clarisse knew she was going to die.

While praying to literally all the gods I took a chance and without thinking I tackled the monstrous snake creature. Not my smartest move, but it worked. As the snake woman was caught by surprise I rolled over and saw Clarisse pick up her sword, and regain her arrogant cockiness. 'I don't need your help, knucklehead!' she sneered at me. 'Yes, seemed like you had everything under control' I yelled back at her.

Before we could exchange more insults though, the snake woman attacked again. While her tail swung at Clarisse's head, she turned her attention on me. 'I am Echidna, mother of monsters and I am going to destroy you!' she yelled like a madman. Or madwoman. Or mad snake woman creature. Anyways, with those words she swung her arms forward and started hacking in on me. As I deflected one of them with my sword I realized I would have already been dead if it hadn't been for my shield which deflected Echidna's other sword.

As I concentrated on not getting killed by Echidna I caught a glimpse of Clarisse getting choked by Echidna's tail. Choking one demigod while fighting another one. Unfortunately for us, Echidna had some serious multi-tasking skills.

Still defending myself I dodged Echidna's sword, jumped in the air and again, threw my shield in a monster's face, with result this time. As Echidna, who was very tall standing on her snake tail, lost her balance she needed her tail to stay upright. I saved Clarisse and lost a shield. I guess everyone had to make sacrifices sometimes.

As Clarisse got to her feet I wasn't paying attention and Echidna attacked me, this time also with result. Her aim was my face, the result was my shoulder. Just like I had jammed riptide in the hellhounds ribcage, she jammed her sword in my shoulder. And it hurt like hell.

As the pain spread through my arm and I sacked to my knees, I expected Echidna to finish me off. Then I heard a battle cry and looked just in time to see Clarisse do what I had done to save her. She rugby tackled Echidna.

With a lot of pain and effort I removed the sword from my shoulder and got to my feet. My legs were shaking and my shoulder was bleeding but I had to help Clarisse. I had to come up with a plan. We couldn't just keep rugby tackling this monster hoping she would get some heart attack or a stroke in the process. Then I realized. Water.

While Echidna was still occupied by Clarisse I spread my arms and fell a thug in my gut. Apparently there was some source of water close to the theater because in a matter of seconds a big wave came over the top of one of the theater walls. I aimed the wave at Echidna and it literally washed her away. Though I was tired I ran over to her and hacked of a piece of her tail. Echidna was furious and threw her sword at me. I dodged it and again slashed at her, this time hitting her arm.

With a scream she tried to retaliate but without a complete tail she was thrown out of balance. The hole in my shoulder made my arm feel like it weighed 1000 pounds and I was starting to feel light headed. If I didn't finish this off soon, Echidna was going to finish me.

As she attacked me I decided to risk it all. I dodged the attack, rolled over, threw Riptide in her face and grabbed her fallen sword. In one swift motion I stabbed it in her stomach. With a big moan she fell to the ground and dissolved into ashes.

Feeling pretty good about myself I caught my breath and relaxed for a second. This happy moment didn't last long as I saw Clarisse had mounted the steps and stood before the crown. But instead of grabbing it, she did something I had never expected her to do. She picked the crown up with her sword, careful not to touch it herself. 'Fair is fair knucklehead. You deserve it more. Catch!' she yelled as she threw the crown at me. Adrenaline still rushing through my body I caught the crown and immediately horns sounded. Cheers erupted from the crowd. I had won the tournament.

Afterwards everything happened in a rush. All my friends came and hauled me upon their shoulders. The look on Ares's face, who had to officially crown me was more valuable to me than any crown in the world. I got some ambrosia and nectar for my shoulder and I felt really really good. As I walked back to camp Annabeth ran over to me and tackled me into a hug, which was pretty great too.

Grover also appeared looking happy and quite embarrassed. Apparently, he had been so nervous he had started to eat his t-shirt, which meant he was now walking around in nothing more than a crop top. As I started teasing him about his new fashion style I got this weird feeling. I know it sounds really corny, but I realized how much I loved my friends and my adventurous life, no matter how dangerous it sometimes was. I also realized I had just had this amazing adventure, won a tournament and still had a whole summer of Camp Half-Blood ahead of me. I smiled. Bring it on, I thought. Bring. It. On.

 **THE END**


End file.
